The Point Of No Return
by Silver Storm Dragon
Summary: After an upset between Ingrid and Fillmore, something awful happens to try and bring them back...but is it already too late? (UPDATED-Chapter 3 is here)
1. I

The Point Of No Return 

_/and THIS is what happens when I listen to Phantom too much ;; this is merely inspired by the song. much as it might be fun to do a POTO rip off, I'm not gonna do one right now. maybe in the future. with Ingrid as Christine, and Fillmore as a more detectivish Raoul, and Check Matey as the Phantom. Just for laughs. and set in the modern day...yeah, this is gonna be a future project.../_

Ingrid sat. "Why did you bring me here, Joseph?"

Anza sighed. "Just look, Ingrid. And tell me what you think."

She looked at him, then the scenery. It was dusk, and Anza had selected the perfect spot for viewing it-the top of a large hill overlooking the city below. She smiled at him. "Karen will love it."

He smiled. "Thanks, Ingrid. You're the only one I trust to help me...I mean...It's not every day you tell one of your friends that you love her, is it? I want it to be perfect..."

She beamed. "You're an old romantic, Anza." Her face fell. "It's just a pity that..."

"He'll come around."

"I don't think he will. I know him, and I also know that telling him exactly how I felt was a real mistake."

"Maybe you misinterpereted his meaning..."

"He walked away from me. Not without staring at me like something that he'd found on the bottom of his shoe." She sighed. "I guess this means you're the last decent guy on the force, and you're spoken for."

"He's a decent guy really..."

"I thought that. And look where it got me." She sighed deeply. "I'm gonna go...want me to tell Karen to wait outside her house at 8?"

"Yeah...that'd be great. Thanks Ingrid."

She smiled and raised a hand in goodbye. Anza watched her car zoom away, and felt a pang of sadness. As Karen's best friend, he had used her as a consultant for this evening, and over that time he'd become rather close to her.

Fillmore's reaction to her had surprised him a lot. He hadn't seemed to be the kind of guy who would let her down like that-in fact, Anza had thought that Fillmore felt the same. Obviously not.

---

"Thanks, Ingrid." Tehama hugged her. "I...if this is what I think it is, I'll never be able to repay you..."

Ingrid smiled widely. "I'll find a way. Just call me later and tell me everything."

"...don't you already know everything?"

"Not all of it. Enjoy yourself." She got into her car.

"Bye, Ingrid! Oh...and he'll call."

"No...No, I don't think he will."

The car sped off again, and Karen sighed. It was so sad-she'd always thought that Fillmore and Ingrid were perfect for eachother. His reaction had surprised her a lot, and, if she was honest, it angered her. Ingrid very rarely put herself out like that, and now Karen feared she never would again. Despite that she didn't show it, Ingrid was actually rather delicate, sensitive. She feared that Ingrid would return to herself, and become self-involved.

Karen had spoken at length about this kind of thing with Ariella, to the point that Karen and Ariella were also close, and that Karen was the person who knew Ingrid best of all. In the past it had been Fillmore, but he had dropped Ingrid like a stone the minute she made her confession, and no contact had passed between them since, to the point of Fillmore putting in for a change of partner.

---

"Fillmore household, Cornelius speaking."

"We have the girl."

"...what?"

"We have the girl. And if you don't do everything exactly as we ask, she'll never see the light of day again."

"Let me speak to her."

"H-hello?"

"Ingrid?! Where are you? What's happening? Are you OK?"

"Just do what they ask. Your instructions will arrive tomorrow. Oh, and Fillmore? It's nice to know you're still speaking to me."

The phone went dead.

Immidiately a number of possibilities raced through Fillmore's mind. The most attractive one was that this was all just a joke, set up to make him talk to her again. It was also the least likely-Ingrid would never go that far. He considered others, and hit upon the most logical one-revenge in conjunction with money. It was obviously someone who had been watching them, but not recently. Someone who had been unable to recently...

It also had to be someone who had one hell of a lot of issues with the two of them, if they were going to this length.

The guilt began to set in more than ever before. He'd been unable to comprehend the intensity of her feelings, unable to understand how much he had hurt her-he had completely failed her. He kept replaying it in his head, thinking of what he should've done. The top one so far was that he should've stroked her cheek, whispered "thank you" and then gone on to make out with her.

He had tried to console himself that it could've been a lot worse, but so far the worst he could come up with was him outright insulting her, which he would never do (it was a health risk for a start.)

If he had just understood, if he had just held her, if he had just accepted her feelings... He may not have the same intensity for her as she did for him, but he still cared... The guilt rose through him. He had let her down to say the very least.

And yet...still he was the one they called. Had she protested, told them it was pointless? Or had she just hoped that he cared? He cursed his aloof behaviour. He should've accepted what she was feeling, let her know that they were still friends. Or even told her how he felt, that he held her in high affection. He wrinkled his nose-that was, in fact, worse that what he had already done.

He dialled the number to see who it was that had called him, but there was no joy there-the caller had withheld their number. He began to dial Anza's cellphone, before it clicked that tonight was Anza and Tehama's night-the night that he was finally going to tell her. He felt a stab of jealousy go through him-whilst Anza got to spend a romantic evening telling the girl he loved how he felt, he had to suffer the pain of trying to find the girl who loved him.

Immidiately he began doing what he did best-compiling a list of suspects.

---

"Vallejo."

"It's Fillmore. I got a problem."

"Damn right you do, even O Farrell is refusing to work with you over the Ingrid thing."

"I have another Ingrid thing."

"What now? She forgave you and now you want to quit cause it's 'too hard' being anywhere near her?"

"She's been kidnapped."

"WHAT?"

"I got a phone call twenty minutes ago telling me that I had to do whatever was asked of me if I wanted her to be safe."

"What did they call you for"  
"I guess they were in detention for the last 2 weeks and didn't know about the incident."

"Incident? Incident?!"

"Fine, they didn't know what I did to her!"

"So, what are we gonna do?"

"Get the list of everyone in detention, then kick some ass and take some names."

"All of them?"

"There can't that many that were in there for two weeks."

"You'd be surprised."

"Vallejo, please. Ingrid is relying on me."

"I'll meet you outside your house in ten. Call Anza, Tehama and O'Farrell."

"I can't call Anza and Tehama...they're on a date."

"Our first Safety Patrol couple."

"...are you ever gonna let up with that?"

"No, I don't think so. You deserve it."

He put the phone down.

Fillmore rubbed his eyes. "I can't believe this... One mistake... One point..."

Suddenly in his head he could hear Ingrid's voice. "One point dictates a lot of things for the rest of your life. You should know that. When you refused me, you passed that point. The point of no return. There are no undos, Fillmore. Now I have to live with your choice. That is, if I live at all."

A shivver danced down his spine. There was no turning back now, no backward glances. The doorbell rang, although Fillmore felt like it was the bell tolling for him-or worse, for Ingrid.

"Let's do this."

---

/that was fun! This is, obviously, the first in the series. I'm not doing very well through so updates will proabably be few and far between. I just like this fic, and hope that all you crazy kids will too.  
I don't own any of them, la la la.  
Review please  
--Sylvi Storm/


	2. II

Point Of No Return /NEW(ish) AND IMPROVED-PLEASE re-read since more is included, and it should now make more sense.  
WOWIES! People love me! Hehe. Anyway. This chapter is long cause there were no natural breaks. So...you know, enjoy. A lot of it was written...ten minutes ago? Probably fifteen by the time this is posted. So there may be discrepancies, but I wanted to get this up cause I feel happy! Woo!  
After this I shall out of stock. I have a little bit written, but this means that the next update will take a while. So, you know, make the most of this./

"I've never encountered this guy. This guy didn't care about us busting him. This guy has never even met Ingrid." Fillmore struck the name off the list.

"This guy doesn't have a grudge against you..."

"That just leaves three." O'Farrel glanced up at them.

"Then let's go." Fillmore got up, looking dangerous.

"That's not enough, Fillmore. We need more evidence."

"What more evidence do we need? One of them has Ingrid, and I don't know what's happening to her. I have to find her. I have to!"

"Have you any idea of how delicate this is? We can't just go in there and hit them until they give her up. We don't know if they're armed, we don't know what they can do."

Fillmore went pale. "I...I just want her safe."

"I know." Vallejo said softly. "What's the contact like with kidnapper?"

"I get my instructions tomorrow. I...I'm not sure how."

"It's likely they'll ring again?" O'Farrell asked.

"It's possible...probable. I guess they must know where they live...they already know my phone number."

"They probably got that from Ingrid." Vallejo appeared to mull the situation over.

"I...I wonder what they had to do...I mean, Ingrid wouldn't give up information easily..."

"Don't go there, O'Farrell." Fillmore snarled menacingly.

"I really don't want to be here, Fillmore. I really don't want to be going through this-"

"Oh! I'm so SORRY. You think I want to? Have you any idea what this is O'Farrell? It's my fault that Ingrid is in danger! If...If I hadn't...I would have protected her!"

"There's nothing you could've done. The person has obivously been planning this." Vallejo said softly, hoping to catch Fillmore before he errupted his anger onto O'Farrell.

"I need to know who saw her last. There might've been witnesses, they could've seen the struggle...was there a struggle? Could it be someone she knows? Someone she trusts? Trusted." Fillmore sat onto the floor.

"What's the situation on her family?"

"Her dad is in Europe for three monthes-Ariella was in charge. And she's out of town for a week, seeing her boyfriend." Tehama and Anza entered the room, hand in hand. "Why didn't you call me, Fillmore?! She's my best friend!"

"Anza had been planning for wee-"

"There are priorities! Besides..." She smiled, taking both Anza's hands in her's. "I didn't need all those beautiful things, I just needed him..."

O'Farrel sniffed. "That's so BEAUTIFUL! Oh, I think I'm gonna cry..."

"Don't. So, Ingrid was on her own for the whole week? If I'd known..." Fillmore's fists balled together.

"She wasn't in danger, as far as we knew." Tehama said softly.

"Do we know who last saw her?" Vallejo's tone was business.

"Me. It was at 7:30, just before I had to go and get dressed. We spoke for a couple of minutes, and then she drove off."

For the first time, Fillmore cursed Ingrid's distinctive individuality. Whilst most members of X High drove shiny new cars, Ingrid drove a dark purple Old Beetle-vintage and with a silver design on it that Ariella had created. Her car was the envy of all of X-she was the only one who could pull it off. Of course the kidnapper had recognised the car, everyone did. People saw it and either laughed or gasped. It wasn't exactly secret. She had to have been picked up in her car, especially since-

"I got the call at 8:05...I need to know the location of her kidnapper's, but she must've been picked up around quarter to 8-she must've been there for a while, they had to tell her what to say..." Fillmore was pacing.

"And any earlier than 7:45, I woulda heard it-her car does make a great noise..." Tehama smiled a little.

"Yeah..." Fillmore replied thoughtfully. "I guess our next lead will have to be the instructions."

"We need to get the person delivering the instructions..." Vallejo decided.

"We can get information out of them." Anza commented darkly.

"But any idea what time it'll arrive?"

"I don't know. The only answer is to be awake all night."

"We should take turns."

"That sounds logical."

Vallejo looked out of the window. It was dawn, and someone was approaching the house. Typical, he thought, on my shift. Before he could do anything, Fillmore was holding the approacher in a citizen's arrest. They were both in the house within moments.

"Who's your employer?"

"I...I don't know his name..." The kid was scared, and Vallejo couldn't blame him-Fillmore's face looked like thunder. There was an angry spark in his eye that hadn't been there in a long time. Vallejo knew better than to go anywhere near them, he would intervene in the event of a fight, but he feared intervening too soon would either lose them the information, or start a fight too quickly. And he really, really didn't like the idea of taking Fillmore on in his current mood.

"What does he look like?"

"I didn't see his face...But his voice...He sounded kinda posh...up himself, you know?"

"Yeah, I know. How old?"

"Seniour. He had a car." (A/N: Please bear in mind I am le Brit girly, so this is vague, but seniour would be about 17, 18-right? Sorry if not x.x)

"What did it look like?"

"Like every other car-red."

"Any idea of the number plate?"

"I...I don't think I-"

"Try."

"I didn't see it. The car just pulled up, he told me where to go, he gave me 20 bucks! That's all I know."

"20 bucks..."

"I don't even know what's in this envelope!"

Fillmore took the envelope. "How long ago was this?"

"About twenty minutes."

"Where were you?"

"Three blocks away. It took me a while to decide which house was your's."

"Was the car running? Was there anyone else in there?"

"The car just seemed to pause-I thought he was curb crawling at first, not many people are around when I'm jogging."

"What direction did he go off in?"

"Same one as me, except when I turned the corner he kept going straight."

"So why did you say yes?"

"For all I knew it was a joke. And I go this way anyway. So I figured I had nothing to lose, and 20 bucks to gain."

"Give me your phone number. I might need to contact you."

"Please! I'm just a kid!"

"You're, what, 14?"

"...that's still a kid!"

"Do you know what we're dealing with here?"

"What? Some prank?"

"No. Kidnapping."

"...alright, here's my number. Can I go now?"

"Yeah...but expect a call."

"I hope you find your girlfriend."

"She's not my..."

The kid had already left.

Vallejo looked up. "You didn't get his name."

"I know his name. He's Scott Pierce. He's a member of the track team." Tehama yawned. "You don't forget hair like that."

"Yeah, it was rather..orange...wasn't it?" Vallejo smiled.

"What's in the envelope, Fillmore?" Anza dragged them back to business.

Fillmore undid the envelope. "A video tape."

"Put it on."

He placed the tape in the machine, and pressed play.

Ingrid appeared on screen. "Hi, Fillmore. If you don't follow these instructions then...then they'll hurt to me." She lowered her head. "I really don't want to think about it."

"Oh, God, Ingrid..." Fillmore whispered.

"There's a list of demands here...The first one is that you leave the Safety Patrol. The second one is that you...that you...What does that say?"

"You know what it says."

Vallejo paused it and smirked. "Know that voice?"

"Yes...yes..." Fillmore rubbed his temples. "It's fitting in... A guy who's up himself...has money...red car..."

"Brad Parnasuss."

"Exactly." Vallejo pressed play.

"The second one is that you don't get any police involved. If you do then...then they'll kill me on the spot." She sniffed a little, but regained her composure.

"Is...is that a bruise?" Fillmore asked, sounding somewhat broken.

"It could just be the angle." Anza commented hopefully.

"The third demand is that you make Vallejo remove me from the Patrol, too." She shook her head a little, her hair fell out of her eyes-Fillmore's answer was given, it was a bruise.

"I'm gonna kill him." Fillmore growled.

"The fourth demand is that you deliver fifteen thousand dollars. That one is negotiable, but the others...the others must be met...If those demenads aren't met then I will be killed. Please, Fillmore, make it happen. The terms could change at any moment, but you will be informed." Her eyes widened in determination. "You have to meet these demands by the end of the week. To arrange where to meet, ring this number." She held up a card bearing a cellular phone number, which Fillmore noted. "Oh, and Fillmore? Please don't let me down...I don't want to die."

The screen turned to static.

"Lets get to Parnasuss' and kick some ass."

"Wait. This guy is intelligent. He wouldn't be keeping her somewhere he'd find her. We're just lucky that Ingrid is smarter." Vallejo caught Fillmore's wrist, stopping him from going toward the door.

"Why did they include the money demand? He doesn't need it." O'Farrell looked confused.

"Could be to cover himself, could be just because he's greedy." Tehama reasoned.

"But fifteen thousand? How are we meant to raise that?" Fillmore pulled away from Vallejo's grip, and began pacing. Again.

"Don't you get it, Fillmore? She knows who they are. This isn't about money. This is about power. She knows who they are, which means that they could kill her." Anza snapped.

"But it's a big leap from kidnapper to murderer...I don't think Parnasuss has it in him." Vallejo added pensievely.

"I wouldn't of thought he had it in him to kidnap." Tehama whispered bitterly.

"We can't let ourselves underestimate him. Ingrid's life depends on it."

"He's gotta have some muscle behind him-Ingrid would've been able to fight her way out of his grasp." Fillmore spoke from experience-fighting with Ingrid was something he'd done on rare occasions for good reason. She was skilled for the slight girl she was-she'd told him once that the greatest weapon was surprise. "They didn't use a drug, I'm sure of that-she sounded awake and alert on the phone."

"He must have some sort of weapon...Ingrid wouldn't give up unless..." Tehama trailed off, not wanting to think about it.

"He's also making threats on her life." Anza placed a supportive arm around Tehama's waist.

"This isn't right. She shouldn't have to be going through this." There was anger, fire, fear in Fillmore's eyes.

"Of course it isn't right. And that's one of the reasons we have to help Ingrid. We have to save her."

"But we need expert help. We need to make contact with some professionals. We're all too emotionally involved." Vallejo seemed to be mentally analysing his great list of contacts over his time at the Patrol.

"No. This is just us. That's the way it should be."

"Fillmore. Stop trying to save the day. You can't handle this. If you could, we wouldn't be here." Anza snapped, standing and facing Fillmore. Fillmore wasn't short by any means, but Anza was taller-he stared Fillmore down, attempting intimidation.

"Maybe I don't need you here." Fillmore snarled. It seemed that when it came to this paticular matter, nothing could intimidate thing. There was something frightening about it, and yet something so very romantic about the strength of feeling.  
"Stop it!" Tehama stood close next to Anza. "Fighting isn't gonna save Ingrid. We've got a choice. We can get someone else in to help us. Or we can try and deal with it ourselves."

O'Farrell rubbed his eyes. "If we bring someone in then they could cause trouble for us-you know, not understand our dynamic. They would probably want to involve the police, despite the demands. However, if it's just us, it's less likely we'll say the right things-it could be very dangerous for Ingrid."

They stared at him.

"What? Just cause a guy doesn't always act intelligent doesn't mean he isn't-I'm on the patrol for a reason!"

Vallejo appeared to consider it. "Far as I see it, the best thing to do is to get someone in. And I have a good friend who knows what she's doing." He eyed all of them. "Everyone agreed?"

They nodded.

"Who you gonna call?" Tehama asked.

"GHOSTBUSTERS!" O'Farrel beamed, completely losing any respect he had earned with his latest astute suggestion. He was then ignored.

"Her name is Lenora. Lenora Wyatt. We were at Summer Camp together, she knows negotiation. She keeps her head in a crisis. And overall, she's trustworthy." He paused, eyeing Fillmore with a fixed gaze. "You'll like her. She reminds me of Ingrid."

/oooooooh! LENORA! She'll be cool. When I've created her and such like. Yeah, I've planned ahead.  
Don't own any of them. Or the car mentioned. Though it would be cool to own Ingrid's car. One day... Oh, and do bear in mind, I am le Brit, so I have no idea of the grades. This is why we use numbers YAY NUMBERS! But I think it's Seniour year...that sounds right, doesn't it? x.x Anyway. Review, enjoy, be happy, have fun etc.  
-Sylvi Storm

LE EDIT: Many thanks to AlwaysWrite and Maryssa! I keep forgetting that I need to actually explain seemingly random bits of information....like who's speaking x.x Oh, and Ingrid's OOCness...I would argue that she's been through a traumatic experience, and even someone as strong as her would feel afraid...I know deep down she'd try to be independant, but in situations like this, it's fair to say that she'd act at least a little different...there will be more to justify this in the next chapter though. So bear with me.../ 


	3. III

Point Of No Return

/If there are mistakes in this, please let me know-constructive criticism is great, and going back to chapter 2 made me make it a helluva lot better than it was first time round, and shinier! So if there is anything you feel needs explanation or something, let me know. You guys do rule, and you're spiffaliciously good at making me happy. YAY REVIEWERS!  
Oh, and if you've not re-read chapter 2, please do./

Ingrid felt the weakest she'd ever felt.

She was tired, but restless, afraid, unsure. Her outlook was bleaker than it ever had been. A small fire of hope burned in her, but every moment it became weaker. Time was dragging, she didn't even know how long she'd been there. It felt like an eternity.

It was so difficult not to scream at Parnasuss, to ask him why her, why now, why why why. But somewhere she knew-he'd sworn revenge, and this was it. He was twisted, mre twisted than she'd ever known. She smiled grimly-maybe she should've guessed when she saw the lengths he'd gone to in order to keep his title as smartest kid. Especially the dress. She wrinkled her nose-it wasn't clear why he'd worn earrings, especially since she wasn't known for wearing them-at least, not then.

She would've moved her hand to feel the studs she was wearing, but there were a number of reasons why she didn't. For a start her wrists were bound together (in addition to this she was tied around her waist to the chair with a guard watching her every move, as well as around her feet) Also, her face was so pummelled that it hurt to touch it, even brushing it with her sleeve would be agony-it had elevated to a dull ache at this point.  
Not for the first time she wondered about the Safety Patrol. Part of her knew that by allowing them to get involved she'd put them in danger, but a stronger, larger part of her more motivated toward survival told her that they were the only ones that could help. They were her only chance, the only ones Parnassus would involve. Admittedly, he'd only involved Fillmore as far as he knew, but it was obvious that the Patrol would be involved.

Fillmore would know that he couldn't do it alone. He had to know.

It was hurting to think. Her eyes were feeling heavy. She felt so tired, but she couldn't let her guard down, couldn't do that.

"Ingrid...Ingrid." Parnassus stroked her cheek, she winced. Part of it was the bruises, part of it was his touch. "You're so tired, why don't you go to sleep?"

"No. No way." She whispered. She didn't trust Parnassus as far as she could throw him (which right now wasn't far) and she worried about what he might do. A shudder ran through her.

"Oh, Ingrid. I wouldn't do that." He chuckled softly. "I don't want you in that way. Unless..." He smirked. "You want me?"

She tried to get the energy to spit in his face, but she was too weak, too tired. "Never in a million years."

Parnassus shook his head. "Wrong answer, Ingrid. You're not as bright as it may seem." He placed a hand around her wrist and squeezed for every word. "Never-antagonise-your-captor."

She winced. He'd dug his nails into her palm on that last word. She wasn't sure if he'd drawn blood, she doubted it, part of her knew he hadn't, part of her feared that he had.

"Go on, Ingrid. Fall asleep. I promise you'll be alright."

"How do I know...you'll keep that promise?" She fought a yawn, but her eyelids were drooping, there was so much pain, she needed rest, so much had happened, she was afraid, for the first time in a long time she was afraid, she hated this feeling, but sleep, sleep, sleep had to be alright, sleep had to be safe.

"That's not for you to worry about, my pet." He dropped a kiss on the top of the sleeping girl's head. A look of pain crossed her face. He scowled. "You deserve it. You ruined my future, you ruined my plan, you betrayed me."

Parnassus moved away from her, sat on the overstuffed sofa that faced her. The low lights of the basement made her look almost ok, but the binds were clear enough. "You wanted to leave, Ingrid. Why didn't you stay with that? The minute you and Fillmore-" He spat the name. "-ruined my plan, you ruined my life. Everything went downhill. I wasn't number one, why bother? I blamed myself, my work suffered. But now I know...you were to blame. You ruined my life. And I'm going to make you pay."

He stood up, he paced around her. "The money will be a nice start when I need to leave, of course, it's not essential. I won't be able to stay in a town where I'm a known kidnapper...and who knows what else I'll be by then. Things will change here. I'll be number one, Ingrid. I'll be departed, too." He smirked.

"And Fillmore will be the one to blame."

- - -

Lenora wasn't the easiest person to work with. She was, at heart, a dancing diva, and when she demanded something (she did not ask. She demanded.) she wanted it there and then.

"Where's that damn coffee? Come on, I haven't got all day!" She snarled.

"How the HELL does she do negotitiations?" Tehama asked in disbelief.

"She changes completely when need be. She's very volatile." Vallejo explained.

"That I can believe." Anza muttered, watching the delicate way she was addressing Fillmore in the kitchen. "How is she like Ingrid, anyway?"

"You know how when Ingrid is on task she's determined?"

"Yeah..."

"Lenora's worse."

Tehama and Anza exchanged glances. "I think I fear her." O'Farrell whimpered. She appeared to think he was her personal assistant. According to Vallejo, that meant she liked him. O'Farrell wasn't sure that he wanted to be liked.

"So what makes you think we'll like her?" Anza asked bitterly.

"When she's not on the job, she's actually a lot of fun to be around." Vallejo smirked. "Oh, we had fun at camp..."

Tehama raised her eyebrows. "You and Lenora..."

Vallejo looked shocked to his core. "No way! Lenora and I...Never! Ewww! Sure, she's fun, but can you imagine how high maintenance she'd be?!"

Lenora entered the room, drinking her coffee and sitting on the arm of Vallejo's chair. "Talking about me? Good stuff I hope." She purred.

"You know it..." Vallejo laughed nervously, giving the others a 'NEVER. NEVER. NEVER.' look.

"Anyway. Down to business. Cornelius has told me all about Ingrid, and Brad. It strikes me that these demands aren't all he's after. There's gonna be more, and it's gonna be big. This guy isn't about money, he's about power."Lenora sipped her coffee. "There's more to this than his current demands."

"What do you think he'll do to Ingrid?" Tehama asked.

Lenora stood up. "Good question Karen. I'm not completely sure. You guys have spent the best part of middle and high school with him-what do you think?"

Anza stroked his chin. "His grades were slipping-he always had to stay behind after Calculus class to talk to Mr H. But he was always the smartest kid in school-"

"Before Ingrid." Fillmore cut in.

"And even though he framed Ingrid, he stayed on the right side of the law. Though his grades still slipped...I don't get it. If it were me, I'd be motivated to do even better." Anza frowned.

"Joseph, the whole point is that he's not you... It's possible he retreated into himself, gave up. Self blame." Lenora twirled her hair around her fingers. "I've spoken to Frank Bishop over the phone, he was the one that came up with that-and as you know, he's the best. Right now we need to analyze the tape to work out where it's coming from. Danny, be a dear and get me some more coffee. Horatio, grab the tape."

Anza smirked a little. "Horatio..."

Lenora fixed him with a look. "I like the name Horatio, Joseph. I'd appreciate it if you go and buy some bagels or something. I don't think anyone is in the mood to cook, and it's going to be a long day."

Anza nodded. "OK..." He paused. "You realise you're like the mother I never talk about?"

"In some Freudian way, I'm everyone's mother. Straighten that shirt and go!" Lenora snapped, but with a strangely maternal look. Anza shook his head, but still left. Lenora smiled broadly. "I love being maternal. You all like bagels, don't you?"

They nodded.

"Marvellous." She went into the kitchen.

"You didn't mention that she takes control of everything..." Tehama commented drily.

"There were a lot of things I didn't mention." Vallejo said darkly. "But what can you do? She's good at her job. Been on her school's Safety Patrol longer than I have. She knows her stuff."

"Anyone want a hot chocolate? I know you love them Horatio..."

"She's good." Vallejo repeated it in an assuring way, though he did sound like he was assuring himself, too. "She's just..."

"Moody? Slightly insane? Bipolar?" O'Farrell asked, sitting down on the floor. "Leaping from extreme to extreme?"

"I wouldn't call them extremes... She's just... ever changing. Interesting. Exciting."

"Volatile." Tehama reasoned.

"...yeah, fine, volatile."

/So there she is! Lenora. Does she seem Mary-Sue ish? I don't think she is, but...well, another opinion never helps, does it?  
I am trying to work out how the day will be saved. : ponders : I shall just need to watch Without A Trace a few times to work stuff out, lol. In all seriousness, if you have any ideas, pleeeeeeeease e mail me with them to help out. Else it'll end up being "AHA! PARNASSUS! NOW I KILL YOU! POW! Ingrid! Let me pick you up and run out of here! HUZZAH!" Or something of equal coherance and fun.  
Anyways. I don't own any of them aside from Lenora. (I read on a website that there was the theory that vallejo's first name was Horatio, like his VA, so I'm not counting that as something I own.) Please review and such. I'm not sure that this chapter is as good as the others, but I was thinking on my feet more for this one. However, I do like the part where we see Ingrid.  
It wll, once again, be a little while before the next update. I need to brood over my ideas. And steal some of everyone else's... I kid, I kid.  
Take care and review and stuffs!

Sylvi Storm/ 


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